Supporting a stronger workforce
Metro has required Mortenson to set the following workforce equity goals and will provide ongoing support and oversight throughout hotel construction. For 2017, Metro has required five project goals:
- Exceed 20 percent of all hard construction costs contracted to minority-, woman-, service disabled veteran-owned firms and emerging small businesses certified by the State of Oregon
- Exceed 20 percent of apprentice-able trade labor hours to be worked by apprentices
- Exceed 15 percent of project labor hours worked by women
- Exceed 30 percent of project labor hours worked by people of color
- Engage and encourage participation by veteran-owned small businesses
All workforce equity goals increase by 0.5 percent each year.
Creating jobs for today and careers for tomorrow
The Hyatt Regency Portland will create new jobs and training opportunities for the next generation of construction and hospitality professionals.
Construction will create approximately 2,000 jobs in the building trades, and once the hotel is open, it will support 950 permanent hotel, hospitality and tourism-related jobs. During construction, Metro will work with the builder of the hotel, Mortenson Construction, to focus on jobs and training for people of color and women.
Metro and Hyatt Hotels have entered an agreement for Hyatt to recruit from within the Metro First Opportunity Target Area. The FOTA program was created in 1989 to provide economically disadvantaged residents living within an area near the Oregon Convention Center with the first opportunity to apply for employment at Metro venues. In 2016, the boundary and income requirements were expanded to make the program available to more residents.
Hyatt has also signed a labor peace agreement with UNITE HERE, agreeing to allow the unionization of future hotel employees if they so choose.
Community Construction Training Program
As part of the Hyatt Regency Portland hotel project Metro, the Oregon Convention Center, and Mortenson Construction dedicated funding to develop construction careers for women and people of color. The Community Construction Training Program provided funding to BOLI-certified pre-apprenticeship programs to diversify the pipeline of future workers. This program exceeded pre-apprentice training goals, directly investing in 112 pre-apprentices to help generate well-paying careers for those who are underrepresented in the trades.
Mortenson invested $300,000 and Metro and OCC contributed an additional $150,000. The program grantees included Constructing Hope, Portland Opportunity Industrialization Center, Portland YouthBuilders, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc, and Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute.
Three pre-apprentices share their stories of how this program transformed their lives in a video.